Rhode Island Basketball: Why Fatts Russell returning to Rams is right move

When Russell is at his best

I would argue that Russell is nearly impossible to guard when he gets it going from deep. Last season he shot 35.7% from three, and while he can be a lethal three-point shooter when he is creating space for himself, he looks more comfortable to me when the ball is advanced up to him, and he can take a dribble or two, get his footwork together, and knock down open shots.

Defensively, Russell is a tremendous on-ball defender. He could be having the worst game offensively, but you know that he’s always going to make it a priority to make the opposing team’s guards uncomfortable all game long. He rarely ever hand checks, instead opting to move his feet to cut ball handlers off and stop dribble penetration. He also forces opposing guards to make mistakes, pestering them into feeling that they have to make unnecessary moves in order to get by him.

If you are a guard, and you see that Russell is picking you up full-court, you are probably better off making one tight crossover away from him, accelerating until you get past half court, and then using your body to make it harder for him to take the ball from you. He loves when players try to cross over right in front of his face or go behind their backs because all he has to do is anticipate those moves, use his quickness to beat the ball handler to a spot, and then just like that, another steal goes on the stat sheet next to his name.